1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to automatic banking or teller machines (ATM's) and particularly to cash or paper money dispenser mechanisms for remotely located ATM's. More particularly, the invention relates to the construction and operation of a sealed tamper-indicating container and its coordinated relationship with transport mechanism which discharges bills into the container that have been diverted, among other reasons, for example, from delivery to a customer as a result of the detection of "doubles", such diverted bills being discharged from transport means, and received and stored in the container which is sealed in a tamper-indicating condition before it can be removed from the ATM.
It is desirable to control access to diverted bills by personnel servicing ATM's who may attempt to fish bills from the container while the container is locked to the unit, so as to eliminate the necessity of providing multiple personnel when servicing an ATM or while replenishing the supply of paper money bills with which the ATM is loaded, or while removing a rejected paper money bill container, and also to maintain the same high degree of protection for the removed diverted bills that is provided for the loaded bills.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many types and kinds of ATM's are known in the banking field designed for installation and operation remote from a main banking headquarters. Such ATM's invariably are provided with devices which detect the presence of doubles being transported from the paper money supply to the cash delivery station of the ATM, and which divert such detected doubles and then transport the same to a collection zone within the ATM.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,154,437 shows a container which receives and stores diverted bills delivered by a transport mechanism to the container. The container thereof is locked before removal from the transport device to attempt to protect the paper money bills contained therein during transport to the main banking headquarters.
However, the construction and arrangement of transport conveyor and container in U.S. Pat. No. 4,154,437 does not provide sealed tamper-indicating conditions against fishing by servicing personnel while locked to the unit or while being transported to the main bank, because the diverted bills deposited in the container may be tampered with or fished from the container while unlocked and mounted on the unit, or after the container is locked and separated from its mounting on the unit. Thus the same degree of protection is not provided for the diverted bill container of U.S. Pat. No. 4,154,437 that is provided by the sealed tamper-indicating money dispensing container of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,113,140, with which the currency dispenser of U.S. Pat. No. 4,154,437 may be equipped.
Accordingly, there is a need existing in the art for a construction and arrangement which provide maximum security or at least the same degree of security in handling diverted paper money bills in their containers that is provided by a sealed tamper-indicating container construction and arrangement charged with a supply of paper money for loading the ATM.